S03.E03: Town's Inn Part 1 - Page 2 - Hotel Hell [V]

May 2024 · 5 minute read

I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed that GR decided to keep Hotel Hell and not Kitchen Nightmares (not to say that he necessarily had to choose, but I wish he kept both or kept KN over Hotel Hell). Hotel Hell seems (especially this season) to be going more in a “Dr. Phil” type direction and he seems to spend more time trying to resolve any psychological issues these people may have over focusing on re-inventing the menus/kitchens and the rooms and service of these hotels.

On KN, he flat out walked out on Amy’s Baking Company for a variety of reasons, but didn’t try to fix the clear psychological issues that they had. They were delusional, he told them so, they argued about it, but at the end of the day he ended up walking out when they were unwilling to accept any of his ideas about how to improve service, staff treatment/turnover, the food, etc. Granted, the fact that they were unwilling to listen to any of his advice or take any of the reviews from Customers who dined there, especially the comments on Social Media (from the “haters” according to Amy and her hubby) seriously which largely contributed to the other food/kitchen/restaurant issues, he didn’t sit down and try to solve their psychological issues – or at least that wasn’t the main focus. He walked out when they wouldn’t change the restaurant issues.

Every episode of Hotel Hell so far this year has seemed to contain some sort of psychological issue with the owner(s), and he has spent more of the show’s focus on that rather than just focusing on fixing the food, the service and the rooms/decor. I don’t know why they’ve decided to push the "Dr. Phil" type focus more this year than they have in others, other than the fact that they think it may help up the ratings.

I personally would rather see more of the focus on the kitchen, the service, etc. and not turn this into a self-help show that is more interested in how “crazy” the owners/staff are, especially as Gordon is in no way qualified to help with the psych issues/loss/trauma the people this season are experiencing.

Yes, the woman in this episode clearly has issues (as does her friend Sara) and I’m curious to see if he makes the place over next week or walks out. In my opinion, if the show were truly more focused on improving the hotel/restaurant, he would walk out a lot more often (this season in particular) rather than try to “fix the owners,” especially when they are so resistant to change and they even admit the changes won’t stick. To me, the show is supposed to be more about improving the places, not psychoanalyzing the people involved in the ownership/management of the place and fixing the people (though I realize that often they are closely linked). If they want to make that the focus of the show, he needs to bring in a psychologist/psychiatrist/mental health professional to consult and advise these people as well. As I mentioned above, last time I checked, Gordon was a Chef and not board certified in any sort of mental health profession so I don’t understand why mental health issues seem to be the main focus of the episodes we’ve seen so far this season.

Also, is it just me or does Gordon seem to have put on some weight while they were filming this? One of the sweaters he wore (maybe it was partially due to the sweater) to the place in Idaho made him look a bit thicker around the middle. I wonder if that’s why there hasn’t been any “semi-naked Gordon” in any of the episodes so far this season…

In addition, we haven’t actually seen him spend the night in any of the hotels this season that I can recall. In previous seasons, he would get out his black light, show us how disgusting it was, then get out his own sleeping bag and sleep on top of the bedding. He would also show more detail the rooms rather than just locked closets/armoires that the owners were keeping clothes in – remember when he used to show the bathrooms as well and the one that had the shower that was apparently designed for really, really short people? There has been very little attention paid to that this year as well.  I think this time is now being spent on him trying to play Dr. Phil and address/diagnose people issues rather than focus on the true problems with the business/property itself and how to turn it around and make it profitable again.

He also used to bring in a group of guest who had stayed before the renovation and then again after the renovation (not just eaten the food) – that hasn’t been done this season yet either.

I’m curious to see Part II of this episode, as clearly this hotel is in a lovely spot and it would be great if it could be turned around. I don’t think that’s possible with the current owner and her sidekick Sara and all of the violations we’ve seen so far, however. If Gordon doesn’t just walk away from this and decides to play more Dr. Phil and spend more focus on the psychological issues rather than those of running a business, I will be a bit disappointed as that is what has really been going on all season. I will likely hang in for the rest of the season, but it definitely seems to have deviated from its initial premise quite a bit.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Rapunzel

ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJoa21pY2h6tHySnmdsZaSkxK%2B%2FjKKlp2Wglr%2B1eZBop5qflWR%2FcA%3D%3D